Bringing You Back Home: Kelsey Garrett (BA ‘03) Revisits Learnings That Shaped Her Career as an Analyst
Written by Charlotte Cheung (BA in International Relations and Economics, ‘27)
In Bringing You Back Home, we talk about how Pardee has shaped our alumni’s paths in significant ways that would not have been possible without their time here. Kelsey Garrett (BA IR ‘03), a Chief of Staff at The Boeing Company, shares her thoughts on how Pardee shaped her professional trajectory, what a successful career in international relations entails, and the most valuable things she learned at Pardee.
How did Pardee shape your career trajectory?
Pardee was undoubtedly the reason I launched into the exact career I wanted. I wanted to work in government, the intelligence community, using the French language, and focused on Africa. Because of Pardee – the contacts, the network, and the preparation, the coursework I received there – my first job out of university was as an intelligence analyst at the Department of Defense doing Africa analysis speaking French.
While studying international relations at another institution, I transferred to Boston University because I could feel with its study abroad programs and their student body that it was so much more internationally minded. That’s the gift that BU gives and enables all of us who want to be involved internationally and live these global lives – there’s no better place to land than the Pardee school at Boston University. I had a recipe for my life, and Pardee provided all the ingredients. Amazing.
You’ve worked as a policy analyst, market analyst, and corporate strategy analyst – which affords you a great deal of depth in each role. What are the key differences between all three?
I was working in the government, based in Washington DC, and working abroad. I transitioned into Boeing because I wanted to raise my family in Seattle. Because of my parents’ background in aviation, Boeing seemed like a great fit. It happened that a role opened on the aviation policy and geopolitical risk analysis team. I remember thinking, “this is amazing – I didn’t think it would be possible to transfer my DC policy and government skills into the corporate world” and feeling thrilled to find that they, in fact, do transfer.
My experience in DC was extremely valuable. It turns out that what I jokingly referred to as my “soft skills” – which are really just skills I probably honed at BU doing international relations – were in demand and still are. First of all, being very curious, perceptive, thorough about research and sourcing, pulling together ideas and recommendations, and drafting super clean and crisp documents and talking points. I mean, that was what I was able to offer, and it was really valued. I could thoroughly research and then synthesize information and offer recommendations on analysis which, frankly, was a skill I started developing as an undergraduate at Boston University. An analytic, strategic mind and approach have been able to carry me through different positions.
Boeing – with about 170,000 employees – is almost like a series of connected businesses, because they have such different customer bases and market dynamics. It’s really been an amazing way to see a company and to look at it through various lenses.
Having worked in intelligence research and analysis, what’s one key takeaway Pardee graduates should know?
In the Department of Defense, “BLUF” – bottom line up front – is the culture. In essence, don’t talk to me for twenty minutes, and then tell me what your key point is at the very end. In the Pentagon, when you’re briefing a General Officer, while you may officially have twenty minutes, the General may get called away without advance notice. If you only have one minute with that General, have you relayed the key message? Have you gotten across the most pertinent point?
Being very pointed has frankly carried me through a career of communicating with senior leaders: to be crisp, and to be correct. At the same time, your communication must be well-researched with appropriate caveats. It’s a crucial skill I’ve employed throughout my entire career: being able to quickly research, synthesize, and communicate succinctly.
How do you synthesize ideas succinctly?
That’s the hardest part: after all, it takes a lot of time to get down to a great, tight message. It takes a lot of refining, editing, editing, and more editing. When your boss wants three bullet points and you have two pages of reading to work from, you’re pressed to communicate with no redundancy. If you’ve said something once, don’t say it again. If there’s any redundancy – cut.
The number one advice? Do not use the passive voice – it takes up so many words, it is unclear and it’s frankly lazy writing. I try to always use an active voice. Also, if it’s an important assignment, have someone else read it. Lastly, you should always read everything three times before you submit it.
Normally, I give myself a space limit. How many sentences do I have? How many lines do I have?
Be super-efficient with the time and space you have.
How did you navigate the transition from undergrad to intelligence analyst?
Everything in life is timing. I happened to enter government in the post 9/11 era. The government was hiring college graduates in droves because they were trying to build up their analytic capabilities to prepare for the Global War on Terror. I was part of this wave of new hires. It was a huge, huge learning curve to be exposed to a massive amount of governmental information in my early career, let alone classified information.
Go extraordinarily humble. Don’t try to pretend you know something and say you know an answer (and go easy on yourself when you don’t know an answer). When you don’t assume you know everything, you can become very open to learning. We’re all going to make mistakes, screw up. Commit to making the same mistake only once. Be very aware of what you’re learning and try to be perceptive, learn everything, drink it all in – be observant about how things are done, not just mechanically the process of things, but also people dynamics, team dynamics, how to communicate. Have your eyes wide open and be observant to learning. Ask questions when you need to; people, for the most part, are incredibly willing to help.